A weblog on nature and place, the design arts, critters, and baseball...

Who We Are

Numenius is a geographer by training and temperament. He is a Bay Area native, and grew up roaming the East Bay hills. Pica takes her cue from Pica nuttalli, the endemic magpie of central California, chatty and alighting on gleaming things. Pica has another blog, Bird by Bird, in which she records her sketches of birds.

Feeds

27 March 14

Pollinators in the Garden

Last week we attended a workshop put on by the California Center for Urban Horticulture on Gardening for Pollinators. A full morning of talks followed by a trip to the Honey Bee Haven, followed by a trip to the Arboretum Plant Sale (for the record, we bought a manzanita, three Spanish lavenders, a giant buckwheat and an ericameria). All but the lavenders should grow into large shrubs that qualify as four feet, and the lavenders should end up filling that slot.

I’ve written a blog post for the ANR Green Blog that provides more background, but here are the big take-homes for me from the workshop…

Planning for succession blooming (in the Central Valley, that means late winter through fall)

Putting plants in clumps at least 4 feet long if possible (honeybees, especially, like to specialize)

Putting in plants that provide both nectar and pollen (nectar is fuel for adult bees, pollen is protein for the young)

Using native plants where possible; they’re drought tolerant and have what our native bees need

Avoiding most-toxic pesticides and herbicides

Providing a clean source of water (a slow-dripping tap on a sloped surface is ideal; bees like to drink from very shallow sources)